PBDE Campaign - Press Clippings
Monday, April 23, 2007
The Olympian
State gives green thumbs up
by
John Dodge
link to article
"The state’s environmental community secured passage of its four-pronged environmental agenda in the 2007 state Legislature, it’s most successful session in recent memory..."
Monday, April 16, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Chemical ban puts industry on the defensive
Flame retardant not 'shown to be harmful'
by LISA STIFFLER, P-I REPORTER
link to article
print version featured this quote from Laurie Valeriano of the Washington Toxics Coalition:
"The industry that makes deca and PBDEs is freaking out because they lost so severely in Washington state and other states will follow. It really is a message from Washington state and policymakers that we won't accept chemicals that build up in our bodies and our children.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
The Seattle Times
Fireproofing chemical may face backlash after phase-out
by RACHEL LA CORTE, The Associated Press
link to article
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Seattle Post-Intellgencer
Limited ban placed on flame retardants
Substitute must be found for making objects fireproof
by LISA STIFFLER, P-I REPORTER
link to article
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
PBDEs: They are everywhere, they accumulate and they spread
by Lisa Stiffler, P-I reporter
link to article
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Vancouver Sun
Flame retardant growing threat to killer whales
Concern raised in B.C., Washington state
by Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun
link to article
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Flame retardant legislation based on science, thorough study
by Jay Manning, Director, WA State Dept. of Ecology
link to article
"The Legislature is considering a bill to phase out a chemical flame retardant known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers. This family of chemicals is toxic, especially for kids, and it's everywhere. It's in a wide variety of products in our homes and offices, including furniture, TVs and computers.
Unfortunately, PBDEs leach out of these products and into air, household dust and eventually our bodies. We at the Department of Ecology are so concerned about the escalating presence of PBDEs that we are requesting passage of this bill phasing out the use of PBDEs in household products, provided equally effective and less toxic flame retardants are available.
In a Jan. 23 guest op-ed, Patrick Moore claimed that PBDEs "are not the issue in Puget Sound" and that the proposed ban on PBDEs would decrease fire safety. I hope the residents of Washington are paying closer attention to this legislation and the science behind it and will question Moore's claims, which are hardly surprising, given his stated financial relationship with PBDE manufacturers...."
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Bainbridge Island Review
Islanders call for chemical ban
by TRISTAN BAURICK Staff Writer
link to article
This article features interviews with Sen. Phil Rockefeller (23rd District) and Ralph Munro, former legislator and WA Secretary of State.
"According to Rockefeller, PBDEs are overtaking PCBs as the region’s most dangerous industrial contaminant.
Like PCBs, PBDEs persist for years in the environment, often contaminating multiple organisms as it climbs up and down the food chain. While PCBs persist, their manufacture was banned in the 1970s. PBDE levels, on the other hand, continue to grow in soil, waterways, animals and humans.
“The levels of PBDEs are doubling every four years in Puget Sound,” said Rockefeller, who plans argue for the ban on the Senate floor this week. “We’re seeing levels rise in harbor seals, orcas and in our communities. It’s a risk to public health and the environment in Puget Sound. And Bainbridge is right at the heart of it.” ""Especially alarming for Munro is PBDE’s toxic effect on the sound’s resident orca whales.
Munro helped lead efforts that earned the whale federal Endangered Species Act status in 2005.
“Orcas are one of the best indicators of concentrations, and they’re seeing a lot of that toxic stuff in them,” said Munro, who frequently sighted the whales off the island’s shores as a child."
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Tacoma News Tribune
Companies fight dirty for toxic product
by Mike Brown, Executive Director of the Washington Fire Chiefs, State Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina), and State Rep. Skip Priest (R-Federal Way)
link to article
"The industry is sending out glossy mail to firefighters accusing lawmakers of putting kids at risk. Their paid consultants are writing misleading opinion pieces in newspapers.
But it’s all a smokescreen intended to block meaningful, common-sense legislation that has support from a broad coalition of people who care deeply about the health and safety of our kids.
Fire officials used to agree that the proposed legislation to remove fire retardants would put firefighters and citizens at risk. But this year, Washington’s fire chiefs are standing with nurses, doctors and scientists pushing for the reform we need to protect our kids."
Monday, January 29, 2007
Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Flame retardant study raises red flags for health risk
By JOHN RICHARDSON, Staff Writer
link to article
link to report to Maine Legislature on PBDEs
"Maine's Department of Environmental Protection issued a report to the Legislature last week calling for a phaseout of deca in residential products such as the plastic casings on many televisions. A handful of other states, including Washington, also are considering bans or phaseouts."
"The DEP report says evidence continues to grow that household dust is not just a nuisance, but also a collector of potentially toxic chemicals. The report cites emerging research from around the world, as well as findings by a University of Southern Maine laboratory in Portland.""Mice that ate deca developed reflexes later and were slower to develop grip strength, among other things, according to the researchers. And, using infrared monitors, they found that adolescent mice that ate deca when they were babies were more likely to be hyperactive than those that didn't eat deca. The chemical seemed to affect males more than females."
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Letters to the Editor:
"PBDEs identified as threat to Puget Sound" by Kathy Fletcher, Executive Director, People For Puget Sound
"Lobbyist failed to reveal where he's coming from" by Fred Munson and Denise Joines, former Greenpeace staffers
link to Sunday 1/28 print letters page (scroll down to 4th and 5th letters on the page)
see also, related online Letters to the Editor about PBDEs:
link to Saturday 1/27 web letters page
link to Friday 1/26 web letters page (scroll about half-way down)
These Letters to the Editor were published in response to an guest column in the Seattle P-I on January 23rd by Patrick Moore entitled "PBDEs not the issue in the Sound". link to column
Moore disputes the peer-reviewed scientific literature on the environmental impacts of PBDEs, as well as the existence of safer alternatives.
Read more about our views on these issues - see our Fact Sheets and our list of references
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The Olympian
Ban flame retardants
Our Views (by the editors)
link to editorial
Friday, January 19, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Fire Retardants: Ban this chemical
by Seattle P-I Editorial Board
link to editorial
"Amid the sea of insidious, invisible chemicals bathing the environment, there is a good place to start a new cleanup. The Legislature should ban most uses of one type of toxic fire retardants...."
Friday, January 12, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Twist in effort to ban fire retardant
Chemical industry accused of smokescreen
By Chris McGann, P-I Capitol Correspondent
link to article
"As Washington moves to become the first state in the nation to ban a fire retardant found in mattresses, computers and furniture, lawmakers on Thursday accused the industry of putting up a smokescreen to stop the ban.
With concerns about finding toxic chemicals from the retardants -- known as PBDEs -- in everything from breast milk to brown bears, the proposed ban passed out of a House committee and appeared headed for passage in both chambers.
"This bill is on fire," said Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-West Seattle, chairman of the committee working on a similar bill."
Quote from Representative Sam Hunt-
"I think it is sad that employees of the industry who chose to testify here had to create a smokescreen around who they represented by using names such as Fallen Firefighters,"
"They should have been straightforward, used truth in packaging, and said, 'We're here from the industry, we oppose that.' We could live with that. But to come in and use those titles to try and create another sort of issue or smokescreen, I just found very objectionable," Hunt said. "I hope we require truth in packaging when people testify before the Legislature."
Friday, January 12, 2007
The Seattle Times
State may be near outlawing PBDEs
By Warren Cornwall, staff
reporter
link to article
"Tests have found the fire retardant in everything from Puget Sound water and women's breast milk to house dust."
"There is concern that the chemicals could impair brain development in fetuses and children, and interfere with the thyroid gland.
Fire-retardant manufacturers have voluntarily stopped making some versions of the chemical. But one, called Deca-BDE or "deca," is still widely used in televisions, as well as some home electronics and textiles.
Makers of deca argue there's no good evidence the chemical is unsafe and that it's a valuable fire retardant that saves lives.
But proponents of a ban say deca can break down into other toxic chemicals and alternative fire retardants work just as well.
Scientists who specialize in toxic contaminants say the flame retardants are as potent and long-lasting as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and DDT — chemicals that began to accumulate in the environment in the 1950s and were banned in the 1970s. Even if PBDEs were banned today, they would endure in the environment for decades, scientists say."
Monday, January 8, 2007
The Spokesman Review
Tracking pollution's source: chemical levels in Spokane River draw state's attention
Article by James Hagengruber
link to article
"Recent studies have shown the Spokane River has dangerously high levels of PCBs, an industrial compound that's been banned for 30 years but continues to somehow ooze and drip its way into the river. The research also showed sky-high levels of a similar compound, known as PBDEs. These flame-retardant chemicals are not currently banned in the state but have been linked to developmental disorders in laboratory animals."
Saturday, January 6, 2007
The Olympian
Environmentalists optimistic Legislature will lend a hand
Article by John Dodge
link to article
"A case in point: the bill to ban toxic flame retardants has 53 sponsors in the House, which is three more than what's needed for a simple majority "yes" vote. The House passed the bill last year, but it failed in the Senate, where the chemical industry put up a stiff fight.
"I think we can pass it in the Senate this year," said Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County.
Backers this year have the advantage of support from the governor and the state Department of Ecology.
A phase-out of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, is viewed as one of the actions needed to clean up Puget Sound.
"Everywhere scientists look, from orca whales to mothers' breast milk, they find PBDEs," said Gregg Small, executive director of the Washington Toxics Coalition. The chemical accumulates and is linked to learning, memory and behavior problems in people, Small said.
"We are one bill away from significantly improving the safety and health of our children," said one of the prime sponsors of House Bill 1024, Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina."
Sunday, November 19, 2006
New York Times
Chemical Burns
Op-Ed by Arlene Blum
link
to article (registration or fee may be required)
Thursday, April 6, 2006
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Babies' Health: Ban chemicals
"New concerns about chemicals in the diet
of endangered orcas underline a sad fact of the 2006 legislative
session. Lawmakers already knew enough to ban some strong chemicals
but failed to act."
link
to article (registration or fee may be required)
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Chemicals tainting orcas' dinner
More PBDEs seen; adults often share fish with young
link
to article (registration or fee may be required)
Fire Protection Without Poisons
Companies Using Safer Alternatives
2007 Priorities for a Healthy Washington
